11. Buy a Metro ticket in Kannada

How many languages are residents supposed to
know? One local language okay?

I had decided
to make a Kannada course for Courseloka, and was studying various language
issues and the advantages of knowing Kannada in Bengaluru. I spoke to random
people to get a sense of prevailing conditions.

I was out of
touch with Kannada for many years and had taken to speaking in Hindi or
English. I thought I would try to speak in Kannada and see what difference it made.

I initiated
transactions in Kannada with vegetable vendors and shop keepers. They would
talk back in Kannada effortlessly and transact efficiently.

Once, I asked
for a ticket in the metro station in Kannada. “M.G. Road ge ondu ticket kodi”,
i.e., “Give me a ticket to M.G. Road”. I had a friend along with me. She was surprised
by the ticket giver’s reaction.

The ticket
giver said “Neevu ashtu Kannada matadidre namma job ashtu easy agutte”. In
English, he meant “When you speak even that much in Kannada, our job becomes
that much easier.”

This gave me
insight into the language challenge faced by service providers and employees of
government departments who face customers speaking 6-10 languages in Bengaluru.

I thought, is
it not easier, better and logical for everyone, especially the half million new
Hindi speaking migrants, to know one local language, Kannada, instead of expecting
11 million residents to learn 6-10 languages?